literacy for life; EFA global monitoring report, 2006 - Institut de ...

COUNTRY EFFORTS: INCREASING MOMENTUM / 95
materials that often display strong role models
for boys but few or weak ones for girls, and to
make curricula at all levels gender-sensitive and
responsive. Girls may receive less attention from
teachers, who sometimes have stereotypical,
negative perceptions of girls’ academic ability.
Boys tend to lead groups and have more
opportunities to ask and answer questions,
limiting girls to more passive roles (Herz and
Sperling, 2003). Teachers’ attitudes and
expectations can deeply influence girls’ learning
outcomes and course choices, and hence their
post-school possibilities. Gender stereotypes
often discourage girls from taking courses in
technical and scientific fields, for example, as
well as reducing job opportunities and
reinforcing gender segregation in the labour
market (USAID, 1999).
Teacher-training is part of the answer.
The presence of women teachers can also
draw more girls into school. A randomized
evaluation of a programme to hire female
teachers in informal schools showed that girls’
attendance increased by about half when women
teachers were recruited (Banerjee and Kremer,
2002). Increasing the proportion of female
teachers in countries where they represent
a minority, especially in rural areas, is very
important. The overall teacher shortage
worldwide (discussed above in the section on
teachers), which is especially acute in South Asia
and sub-Saharan Africa, presents an opportunity
to deal with this situation without risking the
careers of existing male teachers. Appropriate
measures can include imposing quotas, removing
age restrictions, favouring local recruitment
and posting, and building rural teacher-training
institutions with facilities for women.
Making school more affordable
The direct and indirect costs of formal education,
discussed earlier, constitute a significant obstacle
to expanded primary school attendance among
the poor, and particularly for girls. Family income
and the costs of providing education influence
family willingness to send girls to school more
heavily than they affect the willingness to send
boys. In addition, the costs of going to school
may be higher for girls. In Ghana, India, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Peru and the Philippines, for example,
distance to school is a greater deterrent to
schooling for girls than for boys (King and
Alderman, 2001); parents may have to pay higher
transportation costs if they do not want their
daughters to walk long distances or walk alone
to school. Clothing or uniform costs may be
higher where parents are reluctant to send girls
to school without proper attire. In the United
Republic of Tanzania, for example, households
spend as much as 14% more to send a girl to
school than to send a boy. (King and Alderman,
2001).
Countries that have removed fees or other
direct costs of education have experienced
dramatic increases in girls’ enrolment. Uganda’s
UPE programme, begun in 1997, led to a jump in
the net enrolment ratio for girls from 63% to 83%
in just two years, and the rate for the poorest
girls nearly doubled, from 43% to 82%. On
average, the gender gap in primary education
almost disappeared (Deininger, 2003). The 2003/4
Report also stressed the importance of fee
elimination in girls’ education, especially in
sub-Saharan Africa. Another widely used
approach is to provide stipends to parents to
cover the costs of schooling. Scholarships for
girls’ programmes have been successfully used
in several countries, including Bangladesh. 20
The opportunity cost of children’s time in
school-related activities is also often higher for
girls than for boys, especially in poor and rural
areas, where there are strong gender norms for
household tasks and where girls tend to work
longer hours than boys in both market and
non-market work. Investing in early childhood
care and education, and in childcare centres at
schools and in communities, for instance, can
free many girls from poor families to attend
school. Such investment not only relieves older
girls of sibling care during the day, but also
benefits younger siblings directly. Other
investments, e.g. in fuel-efficient wood-burning
stoves, accessible water wells and simple
mechanized grain and grinding mills, have been
shown in Nepal, Burkina Faso and the Gambia to
reduce demands on girls’ time and permit them
to attend school (World Bank, 1993).
Priorities and challenges
The various measures that have been discussed
in this subsection can be effective only as part of
an integrated strategy. Indeed, experience shows
it is the convergence of several measures aimed
at favouring girls’ education that is successful.
The national EFA plan of the Niger illustrates the
use of this integrated approach (Box 3.9). It should
not be forgotten that in some countries it is boys
who are the disadvantaged group. Where
Countries that
have removed fees
have experienced
dramatic increases
in girls’ enrolment
20. See UNESCO (2003b) for
this and other examples.